Posted on 07/27/2012 2:11:47 PM PDT by NYer
Some of the most encouraging news in our world today is that people with Down Syndrome are beginning to be treated like the valuable human beings they are.
More and more, they are being allowed to integrate into “normal” society. Of course, we still have abhorrent cases like this one, where parents are awarded $2.9 million just because they were unable to abort their daughter with Down syndrome. And we still have medical professionals who neglect to tell parents the whole truth – such as all the normal, everyday things that people with this disability can do. It’s horrible to think that about 90 percent of these babies are aborted in America and that three are aborted every day in the U.K.
But despite all the bad news, rays of hope continue to shine through. Many doctors are beginning to inform parents of the medical and cultural advances that have been made for people with Down syndrome. Parents of children with Down Syndrome continue to speak out boldly, with an amazing and very much needed voice. Organizations like Good Will continue to support people with disabilities, including Down syndrome, and give them opportunities to integrate into the community.
Often, the public view the people they see in magazines as “ideal.” After all, if a fashion designer or major clothing company chooses someone as a model, well, that person must be beautiful, valuable, and generally someone to admire. I am so proud of companies like Target and Nordstrom, who have chosen to feature children with Down syndrome in their catalogs or advertisements. Children with Down syndrome should absolutely be celebrated, admired, and valued for the unique and precious individuals they are. They are undoubtedly just as precious as every other child.
Valentina on the cover of DC Kids American 2013 swimwear catalog
According to the Huffington Post, prestigious fashion designer Dolores Cortés has become the latest in a line of companies to feature a child with Down syndrome as an adorable model. Dolores Cortés is a Spanish swimwear designer, and 10-month-old Valentina Guerrero has become the face of Cortés’ 2013 designs. This incredibly cute little girl appears on the cover of Cortés’ American catalog.
The Down Syndrome Association of Miami shares about the changes Valentina has already made in her parents’ lives.
Valentina, daughter of the TV Host and Producer Ceceliz, and Juan Fernando, was born in September with Down Syndrome, which propelled her parents to create awareness of the wonderful lessons and experiences that she brings, focusing on the daily inspirations rather than on the challenges that the condition may entail. ‘They teach us much more than we will ever teach them,’ notes Ceceliz.
Huffington Post shares thoughts from Valentina’s mother and from the fashion designer herself:
Valentina’s mother, Ceceliz told the Down Syndrome Association of Miami that when Dolores Cortés USA contacted her family, she “was excited mainly because the fact that they are placing Valentina on the of a catalogue sends a very clear message of inclusion; all children deserve the same opportunities, regardless of their physical, economic, social, racial or medical condition.”
And the designer is equally thrilled. “People with Down syndrome are just as beautiful and deserve the same opportunities,” Cortés said in a statement.
The New York Daily News also reported on Valentina’s new job as a model:
‘I am very happy that DC Kids USA chose Valentina as their main model because this carries a clear message of inclusion and starts changing the old perception of Down syndrome, thus generating a much needed transformation in society,’ she [Valentina's mother] told the Daily News.
‘As a mother, I am incredibly proud of what my daughter has achieved in less than a year of life.’
DC Kids USA will donate 10 percent of proceeds from its latest collection to the Down Syndrome Association of Miami.
What a love bug! Good news ping, for a change.
She’s cute!
She photographs very well. That to me is the criterion for advertising. What a doll!
Adorable!
Adorable! What a little sweetie!
Welcome to Holland
I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with disability - to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to imagine how it would feel.
It is like this...
When you're going to have a baby, it is like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guidebooks and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The Gondolas of Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It is all very exciting.
After months of anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bag and off you go. Several hours later the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, ‘Welcome to Holland’. ‘Holland? ‘ you say. ‘What do you mean Holland? I signed up for Italy! ! ! I am supposed to be in Italy. All my life I have dreamed of going to Italy! ‘.
But there has been a change in flight plan, they have landed in Holland and there you must stay. The important thing is that they have not taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It is just a different place.
So you must go out and buy new guidebooks. And you must learn a new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met before. It is just a different place. It's slower paced than Italy. It's less flashy than Italy. But after you have been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills, Holland has tulips, and Holland even has Rembrandts.
But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy and they are all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life you will say, ‘Yes, that is where I was supposed to go, That's where I had planned’.
And the pain of that will never, ever go away, because the loss of that dream is a very significant loss, but if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't go to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things about Holland.
Written by Emily Perl Kingsley (in 1987)
Brought a tear to my eye.
My youngest son has Downs.
These designers and stores are still bastions of liberalism.
To them, they promote this to make themselves feel superior to the rest of us who, in their minds, are all hate-filled bigots.
While this is a nice story, it is still promoting the enemy of all we value and I will not be sucked-in.
BTTT!
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